REPORT #20 1998
THE BIRTH OF A DEMOCRACY

by Orin Smith

The result of Hurricane Mitch in Central America is one other reason why the
Belize government should highly encourage free enterprise in the country so
that the Belizean public would be able to put the entrepreneurial spirit to
work in order to make Belizeans more wealthy and resilient to economic
disaster if a catastrophe of that magnitude should ever strike Belize, with
that said I think that it is high time that they seriously consider scrapping
the monopoly of BTL and any other existing monopolies, also to do away with
these concessions that allows only one Business of it's kind to exist without
the threat of competition, also the special provision in the law that gives
ministers discretion to allow or not allow licensing to certain individuals in
order to establishing a businesses of their choice, since obviously this type
of anticompetitive policies of the Belize Government can only result in
stagnation for the country's economy and of course there presently exist a
good example of this in Belize.

If it is said that the disaster of Hurricane Mitch has put Honduras back
economically some 45 years then could you imagine what a disaster of this
magnitude would do to Belize, Wake up Belize and let your people go.

What kind of Government would establish policies that would keep its people
from making a living for themselves while foreigners and a handful of locals
that can afford to invest in a monopoly and dictate policies laugh at the
rest of the country and say how naive they are, Wake up Belize and let your
people go.

Of course we do not blame the new administration for these present policies
even though they had some contributions therein, however what we are looking
forward to is a new Belize a Belize in which each citizen has the right and
opportunity to enter into whatever area of business they so desire and that
these opportunities are not reserved for those who have the financial
resources to manipulate and influence Government policies and decisions in
their favor, with that said we will be expecting a lot from the new
administration and will be holding them to their manifesto, (
MANIFESTO OF THE
PEOPLE╠S UNITED PARTY) although this manifesto is in no way a complete
description of the necessary changes needed to establish The New Belize it is
start, However our new Government has the great responsibility to listen and
to provide equal opportunity for each of its citizens